Monday, June 18, 2012

Other ACL?

So Nehi and I were out in the yard playing with her famous donut. I was glad to see this because she's been sleeping a lot the last couple of days, when she was playing the end of last week, so I was a little worried.She ran into the ran garden, made the most God awful yelp, a sound I've never heard from her. At first I thought she'd gotten stung by the bumble bee she was snapping at earlier. And then she limped towards me. It was her other leg, the "good" one, the non-surgery one.
I came inside, called the Emergency Vet number, got voicemail, left a message, and hung up. I made good use of my time waiting by getting dressed and putting shoes on. I even considered going ahead and getting Nehi in Baby Truck and heading over to the vet so that we'd be there to meet the vet.
The vet on call called back. And said to give her some Rimadyl if I had it left over and bring her in tomorrow- because I knew the drill, they'd have to sedate her to get her relaxed enough to feel the knee, then take x-rays.

I was a little incredulous. And really wished I'd gotten another answer. Or a different doctor on call, like the one who's been treating Nehi.

I gave Nehi the medicine, and she's laying down quietly. Mostly. She's crying a bit, and can't seem to get comfortable. I keep trying to get her to just lay on the floor, and not stress the leg anymore, but I just watched as she awkwardly got up on the couch, tried to find a comfortable position, and then shift a lot trying to find a good position. She finally abandoned the couch for the floor again.

I know I'm a freak about my dog. I will be the first to admit that. And I'm sure for most pet owners, if their pet is in pain, they want to try and fix it as soon as possible. So, maybe I'm an over-reacting lunatic. It's more than possible.
But's she's lying in front of me, doing this weird growling/crying thing. And I'm trying really to channel Cesar Millan and stay calm, and not stressed, so Nehi doesn't become more anxious. But it's really hard. She's my Bebe. And it's twelve hours until the vet's office opens.

So, I called back, said she was in a lot of pain, and was there anything we could do for her tonight. She said bring her in.
I take back any unkind thought I previously had, once we got there the doctor on call was as nice as could be, and was very understanding and explained what I needed to do to help. Good thing I used to work for these guys in high school!
So, we tried light sedating her (with a muzzle of course, because I was acting as vet tech). Doctor tried to feel the knee with that, but Nehi was too tense and wasn't having it. So Doctor asked me what I wanted to do. To save Nehi the sedation again tomorrow morning, and give them more options if they had to do surgery, I chose the heavy/out sedation. We waited for it to take effect so Doctor could feel her knee. And, yep, Nehi tore her other ACL. She couldn't tell how much, but was betting because she did it acutely, and the level of pain she was in, that it was bad.
So, surgery scheduled for tomorrow.
We stretchered an out Nehi out to Baby Truck, and then put her in her seat.

Not even thinking, when Doctor asked me if I had someone at home to help, I of course said sure! Called Dad from the driveway, and asked him to bring out a comforter, turn on the outside lights and help. It was only once we had Nehi's weight that I remembered that Dad has injured (probably torn) his shoulder. I tried to take most of Nehi's weight, but he wouldn't let me. We barely made it in the door before setting Nehi on the floor.

She's just now coming out of it- doing that weird bobble headed thing, an hour later. I'm weighing getting her into bed with a cookie against the no food the night before surgery. I'll drop her off tomorrow morning and she'll have surgery tomorrow afternoon, and then stay overnight and I'll pick her up Wednesday morning.

As upset as I was the first time, it was all business this time. Nehi doesn't need a blithering idiot, she needs a Mom who will take care of her.
Calm, assertive energy. See, Cesar, I'm learning.